Another big blow for Nokia: Damian Dinning, the company’s head of camera technology, is leaving the company at the end of the month.

First reported by Amateur Photographer, the departure is a big one for Nokia, which has consistently managed to push phone camera technology forward over the past decade. Dinning joined the company in 2004, and most recently he helped Nokia achieve a massive milestone with the 41-megapixel PureView 808 smartphone.

Nokia ended up bringing some of the PureView’s camera smarts into its new Lumia 920 and 820 Windows Phone 8 devices. They don’t feature the same crazy high resolution as the 808, but they utilize similar technology for image stabilization and impressive low-light shooting.

Nokia needs as many innovative minds as it can get right now as it struggles to regain profitability, so this loss is a particularly painful one. It’s unclear who will be replacing Dinning, but Nokia definitely needs someone to keep pushing its renowned camera technology.

Here’s Nokia’s statement on Dinning’s departure:

Following the relocation of key strategic roles to Finland, and with great reluctance, Damian Dinning has made a personal decision to leave the company effective November 30, 2012. During the past nine years, Damian has made many innovative and valuable contributions to Nokia, most recently as a lead program manager in our Smart Devices business. We thank him for his service to the company and certainly wish him the best.

But it doesn’t sound like Dinning is going to be lounging for too long, according to a recent tweet:

I'm incredibly excited about the 10th Dec, can't say more than that right now other than to say it's nothing to do with Nokia directly…